Global warming has in the past five decades become an unavoidable topic with many scientists and environmental specialists warning of serious negative consequences in case of soon mitigations. Global warming is essentially the increase in average global temperatures. According to NASA reports the temperatures across the globe is increasing at alarming rate. In fact, the institution indicates that the temperatures today are the highest rescored for almost 135 years of reports ( NASA, 2011) . NASA and many other scientists indicate that it is important to the various governments to initiate programs that help to curb global warming emissions. However, it is important to note that the climate changes have been indicated to be both natural and anthropogenic.
First, it is important to understand climate change. It is any change on the planet climate either permanently or temporarily for a long period as a result of either anthropogenic (human activities) or natural causes. Anthropogenic causes, also known as human-induced causes of climate changes are mostly as a result of fossil fuel and aerosol emissions into the atmosphere. Additionally, it can be linked to land alteration for instance deforestation. Genio (2008) explains that high temperatures and climate changes started to be experienced during the industrial revolution. He says that the products of fossil fuels burning such as the greenhouse gases like carbon (IV) oxide are the causes of climate change. For instance, Carbon (IV) Oxide assists in trapping heat and therefore its accumulation in the atmosphere results in global warming ( Crutzen, Mosier, Smith, & Winiwarter, 2016) . Aerosol release in the tropical Pacific has also been indicated to lead to a cooled area. As described before these are caused by human activities which lead to burning of fossil fuels and aerosols for example cars and refrigerators and alteration of natural land, for instance, deforestation and industrialization. As a result, the world experiences sea level rise, temperature increase, glacier melting among others.
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Naturally and conventionally it is known that climate change is driven by energy – the incoming and the outgoing of energy. It is a common knowledge that even without the human influence the earth has a natural cycle which drives the climate changes. For instance, the axial tilt of the earth’s orbit around the sun, energy output from the sun, and the volcanic activities. For example is the solar fluctuation which result in higher day temperatures or sometimes lower. Scientists claim that the planets are experiencing higher solar input increasing planet temperature. Earth’s orbit around the sun, on the other hand, causes climate change because of the earth’s elliptical nature. This causes changes in the distance from the sun which causes seasonal changes in climates.
It is no doubt that global warming is a true talk. According to scientists, who are helped by the use of satellite technology, today presents various evidence of global warming. Some of the evidence includes an increase in droughts, Arctic and Antarctic sea ice extent, and average surface temperatures among many others. The recent reports presented by the United States Drought Monitor indicates that land under drought has increased since 1965 with the most current report indicating that about 13% of the USA has been impacted by the menace. The report indicates that about 0.4% of the country is currently in the D-3 level – extreme drought – which is almost affecting about 90 million Americans ( Trenberth, Dai, Van Der Schrier, Jones, Barichivich, Briffa, & Sheffield, 2014) . The institution indicates that the land under drought has increased across the globe over the last 50 years. U.S Drought Monitor also indicates that this has influenced the human health, food production, among others.
Another evidence of global warming as presented by National Snow and Ice Data Center is the changes in the Arctic and Antarctic ice extents. The institution recent report as of January 2017 indicates that the Arctic sea ice extent had reduced by almost 1.3 million square kilometers from 2010. The institution indicates that Arctic Sea Ice extent stands at about 13.5 million today. Sea Ice Index (National Snow and Ice Data Centre also indicate that the Antarctic sea ice extent has been affected too by almost 0.6 million square kilometers less. The institution indicates that sea Ice index is important given that they play a major role in deflection of solar heat.
Another important sign of global warming is the increase in the average planet surface temperatures. Recent reports indicate that average surface temperature has risen by about 2.1 degrees Fahrenheit, an equivalent of about 1.3 degrees Celsius. This is respective to the late nineteenth century temperatures. According to environmental institutions, this has majorly been because of increased carbon (IV) oxide and other emissions into the atmosphere. According to NASA, 2016 was recorded as the warmest year. In fact, the institution indicates that since the year 2001, the average planet’s surface temperature has been on the rise.
Due to the concern of global warming impacts, various mitigation methods have been initiated to curb the menace. Some of these mitigation measures include carbon sequestration and higher fuel efficiency standards. Carbon sequestration essentially is the capture of carbon and storage o atmospheric CO2. Normally this occurs naturally, however, artificially saline aquifers, reservoirs among others have been designed to do the same. This approach has been described as a safe mitigation measure; however, fear is that leakage could lead to negative impacts not only on the atmosphere but also the oceans. According to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change; however, this technology would mean additional 1.5 cents of cost KW/h to be successful in addition to other methods, also it would require a change of policy, especially in companies that deals in coal. Higher fuel efficiency is another approach that has been designed to curb global warming. As previously mentioned burning of fossil fuels, especially by vehicles are serious contributors to global warming. The emission such as CO2 and NOx have greenhouse effects ( Crutzen et al. 2016) . This has led to policy changes, for instance, the governments across the globe have designed the emission standards, for instance, according to EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) the United States standard is currently at 0.07 grams per mile NOx emitted since 2004 (Klier & Linn, 2016). This helps in reducing the emissions which is a good step towards reducing global warming. However, this costs the vehicle and coal manufacturing industries that have to invest deeply in their innovation.
In order to completely curb global warming, there are more policies that should be considered. First, apart from performance standards on vehicles produced by the automotive industries, the same should be extended to buildings, appliance energy consumption standards, and power plants. This is because same equipment leads to emissions which cause global warming. Industries and companies that deals in such fields should, therefore, be involved in initiating and implementing such policy. Another policy could be in innovation. Policies that support innovation is vital for all research and development success. Government’s researchers and federal funding could be the best way to help in creating innovations that are beneficial to the curbing of global warming. For instance, research and development in the electric cars could be the solution to curbing emission due to fuel burnings. This will help in reducing the same. Innovations on using of woods as poles is another sector that will be important, as much as today most companies used concrete poles, it is still common to cut down trees to act as poles.
References
Crutzen, P. J., Mosier, A. R., Smith, K. A., & Winiwarter, W. (2016). N 2 O release from agro-biofuel production negates global warming reduction by replacing fossil fuels. In Paul J. Crutzen: A pioneer on atmospheric chemistry and climate change in the anthropocene (pp. 227-238). Springer, Cham.
Genio. D (2008, 09). Separating Natural from Anthropogenic Influences in Twentieth Century Climate Data Records (Retrieved form): http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/briefs/delgenio_05/
Klier, T., & Linn, J. (2016). Comparing US and EU Approaches to Regulating Automotive Emissions and Fuel Economy.
NASA (2011). Climate Change: how do we know? (Retrieved from): http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
Trenberth, K. E., Dai, A., Van Der Schrier, G., Jones, P. D., Barichivich, J., Briffa, K. R., & Sheffield, J. (2014). Global warming and changes in drought. Nature Climate Change , 4 (1), 17.
